LinkStL is neighborhood-based and is all about building secure families and a better community. LinkStL has the personnel capacity to lead successful partnerships. The LinkStL Board and staff have strong abilities. Recent collaborators include SLU, Community Builders Network, and Child Care Entrepreneurs Partnership. LinkStL can create an impactful response to expressed neighborhood needs, involving residents and community stakeholders to address issues and securing external resources in the correct manner to develop capacity. LinkStL acts as a contact point and a 'bridge' between the community and external resources, which have had little experience with Hyde Park (or any North City neighborhood). LinkStL provides community introduction, orientation, and connection. Partnerships with LinkStL, a place-based service organization, provides larger geographical-serving organizations an opportunity for place-based services, impacting the family in context of the community, rather than individual families traveling miles to receive services in their offices. The programs LinkStL have provided to the community are
Superhero Summer Day Camp (2018 - current). Need: Children and youth have few community opportunities for positive, organized activities in the neighborhood. Many children have had trauma in their lives, much of it from the neighborhood environment, including violence toward themselves. Response: The Superhero Kids program provided ongoing support to families with school-aged children, ages 5 through 14. Professional staff involved families in community activities as well as provided individual family support. Older youth, 16 to 18, become Junior Leaders. Children and families were engaged in executing their ideas for events such as a movie series in the park and group bicycle rides. LinkStL has consistently held the Superhero Summer Day Camp in Hyde Park for about 30 children. The Camp exposes children to environmental justice issues, nature, art projects, story writing, field trips and many other experiences for the children. Besides many great art, cultural and environmental learnings for children at the Day Camp, collaborations with LinkStL have initiated trauma-informed approaches with the campers. Many partners have been involved including Joshua House Ministries, Sierra Club, and Missouri Conservation. Previous funders include Horizon Housing Foundation, Franciscan Sisters of Mary, St. Louis Philanthropic Organization, The Nature Conservancy, Invest STL, and The Kerr Foundation.
After School Program. Need: There existed no local after school program for children needing supervision for parents before they returned from work. Additionally, LinkStL was seeking to support parents who had other needs as well in order to provide resources and support. Response: Through an initiative of our LinkStL Director, starting in 2023, LinkStL has managed an afterschool program for children in Hyde Park. The program serves about 15 children 5 days per week during the school year. Partners supporting the program include Your Words, Black Girls Do STEAM, Men of Code, Missouri Department of Conservation, Communities First, St. Louis Public Library, YMCA, Dream Builders, and Greenhouse Collective Initiative.
Youth Forum (2016-18). Need: Teen and early adult youth are not organized or included as a voice in running their community. Many youth are neither working nor in school. Response: A youth organizer was hired to survey youth and determine priority neighborhood changes needed. Youth gathered at LinkStL in a community where there was not a place for socialization before. Several social events were held including going to Dave and Busters. Funders included: Deaconess Foundation, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, and Dave and Busters)
Youth IDA Program (2019 - 2020). Need: Low-income people, especially youth, rarely have the means or capital to invest in order to escape poverty, even when consistently employed at low-level jobs. Response: In partnership with the United Way and Prosperity Connections, youth entered the Individual Development Account program. Youth set life goals, met to support each other, maintained a constant source of income, and $1,000 was saved over 18 months or sooner so that an additional $3,000 match was given to each youth to meet their objectives, i.e. a car to reach better employment, educational costs, or an entrepreneurship initiative. The goal for the program was for 6 youth to complete the program but LinkStL, through its support, achieved 8 youth who received their match. One of the youth in the program has become a LinkStL board member. (Funders: Equifax Foundation, Horizon Housing)
Covid Response (2020). Need. The Coronavirus in Hyde Park, like other places, was a new, scary event causing unemployment, isolation, hospitalization, and even death. There existed no community outreach to offer information, support, or services to households...